Federal Complaint Says Southwest Airlines Profiled Muslim Student

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A Southwest airlines jet takes off from a runway at Love Field in Dallas, Thursday, April 23, 2015.

A religious rights organization has filed a complaint with federal authorities against Southwest Airlines for what the group says was racial and religious profiling of a Muslim passenger.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a complaint with the Department of Transportation Wednesday on behalf of Khairuldeen Makhzoomi.

Makhzoomi, a student at the University of California, Berkeley, was yanked in April from a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Oakland after mentioning a terrorist group's name during a telephone conversation in Arabic.

He has said he made a passing reference to Islamic State while telling his uncle about a speech he had attended by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.